The Mighty Must Fall
by StellaPen
Summary: I wrote this for school - it is a continuation of Jurassic Park, disregarding The Lost World. Grant reflects on the events on the island ten years ago, and even finds a new dinosaur.


It had been ten years since the government had finally stopped pestering Dr. Alan Grant and had let him leave Costa Rica for what he hoped would be the last time. Those ten years had been hard for him, having to go back to a normal life as a paleontologist and hide all the secrets he now knew. Often, during routine excavations, he would catch himself just staring at the bones he found. He tried to remember if they belonged to a dinosaur created by John Hammond. One he had seen. He tried to picture what it looked like, how it lived. And then there was that feeling of grief; that Isla Nublar and Jurassic Park had, more than anything, created and then destroyed an amazing opportunity. It had been ten years since every dinosaur had been destroyed.   
Therefore, it had come as quite a shock to Grant when he got that phone call asking him and Dr. Sattler to come back. Apparently, the entire island had been turned into one big resort now. A safe tourist resort, with no dinosaurs. Grant got the feeling that the new authorities probably felt bad for what had happened to him and the others years ago, and wanted him to be the first to say the island was safe again. But stamping out rumors would be hard.  
It was with tired footsteps that Grant and Ellie Sattler entered the hotel room that had been provided for them. After the long flight, they really just wanted to sleep. Looking around, it seemed to Grant that the owners of this resort had spared no expense to attempt to make them happy here. But being back on the island that had so greatly changed Grant's life ten years ago automatically gave him the feeling of weariness. He constantly wanted to spin around, to check that nothing was lurking behind him waiting to jump. No matter how many times the staff assured him that everything was utterly under control here now, and that every dinosaur had been completely obliterated according to government regulation a long time ago, he still felt on guard. And he had learned from experience that those who seem too sure of themselves are often sure of nothing.   
To settle his own uneasiness, Grant had told the staff that he would be resting in his room for awhile, which was what Ellie was doing. Instead he decided to go out for a walk. He knew if they knew his real intentions, there would be a close eye kept on him at all times. He wanted to be alone. He also wanted to see the truth of what the island had become, instead of the truth through the eyes of those looking for profit. Grant was fairly sure that the owners of the resort and of the island hadn't bothered to look around on it, from the way they had talked, and from the half-hearted construction jobs he kept noticing. Even the path he was walking on wasn't fully formed. They had jumped at the easy money, without bothering actually to take a look at what they were getting. Grant was reminded of someone he had known years ago, whose short sightedness had caused him to meet his own end.  
Grant found that he had unconsciously arrived at the Jungle River; the same river on which years ago he and two kids had made a narrow escape from a Tyrannosaurus Rex, among other things. The river still looked the same to him, even the waterfall. The waterfall caught Grant's eye for a moment. He wondered at the fact that something so beautifully simple had saved his and others' lives. Not caring about getting wet, he ventured behind it.   
Grant's fears that the new authorities knew nothing of this island were confirmed when he saw that the machinery he had seen ten years ago still lay hidden behind the waterfall. They hadn't even bothered to check back here. Grant could still picture the exact events from ten years ago. With this danger so fresh in his mind, he began to fear that this island would never be safe. That the same thing would only keep happening over and over again. Ian Malcolm would love this, he laughed to himself.  
But Grant wasn't feeling so lighthearted when he heard a soft scratching coming from behind some large boxes. Daring himself to move, he nervously picked up a flashlight and shone it on the boxes. The scratching stopped. Grant watched in fascination as out of the darkness came a dinosaur about his height. It didn't look very fearsome, and he recognized it right away as a Dryosaurus. A herbivore from the late Jurassic period. He was safe, this animal would be harmless towards him. He approached it slowly, so as not to frighten it away. The dinosaur knelt down on its front legs, allowing Grant to touch it. It was truly beautiful, Grant thought. Maybe…maybe there was a way it could survive. He knew very well that the new law for this area said that any dinosaur seen must be reported and immediately destroyed, but the Dryosaurus was harmless.   
Grant stepped back for a moment, thinking. He didn't recall any Dryosauruses existing here before. Had Hammond and Wu been creating species without meaning to? He wouldn't put it past them. And it was such a pity that every dinosaur they created had only lived such a short time, and was then destroyed. As Grant watched the Dryosaurus, he knew it too would be killed, probably very soon.   
This was a thought that had plagued Grant ever since he had seen Jurassic Park explode from napalm years ago. True, the life these scientists created was dangerous, and probably went against about a thousand moral laws, but it was created nonetheless. Created only to be destroyed. He found it particularly sad that some of these animals such as the Dryosaurus, who would never hurt humans would meet the same fate. Hammond had never realized that even the mighty must fall sometime; that the creation of his park would not see the second birth of dinosaurs, but the second death of them.  
Grant again placed his hand on the dinosaur's head, letting it watch him. That amazing opportunity he used to think about - this was it. Humanity would finally have the chance to see some of what the Earth was thousands of years ago. Sadly, it was only a glimpse, and was gone faster than anyone could account for. Grant knew that destroying the dinosaurs was the right thing to do, but still, it hurt him. He had lived his life studying these creatures, and to have his dream taken away just as he saw it was heart-breaking.  
So Grant was not surprised when he heard the motor of an approaching Jeep. He had been tracked, and they were coming for the Dryosaurus. Casting one last glance back at the tall, proud animal he ran out from the waterfall and down the path. As he continued to run, Grant heard shots behind him. Another life that should never have started was over. And as staff members ran to catch up with him, calling to him for questioning, he knew it was starting all over again. He would be interrogated, rumors would spread. Malcolm had been right. Humans didn't have the power to save anything but themselves, which rarely happened. 


End file.
